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Friday, 31 May 2013

We have started to design the tables for this venture. The initial thing to do when starting a project is to look at maps and images that you can get hold of. In this case its a little harder as there is not to many of them available for this battle. However Mike found one and sent it through to me.

From this we then need to identify the area of the main battle and take this as the base to work from.

With the area selected, we need work out our table size.

We use a graphic package and overlay a grid to see how this relates on the ground using our desired table size which for the demo game will be 8ft x 6ft.

We then adapt the map to make it more war game friendly, in this case we cleaned the image of units and adjusted the forest area a little. This will allow a little more movement room around the table perimeter ( for flanking). Further adjustments will be made as we start construction of the table, the river on the table edge will end up being 6 to 8 inches wide. The main issue in construction will be the usability of the table after the event and when we raffle or sell them off.

We have settled on making 8 (3ft x 2ft) sections, This will give us 4 tables after the event each (4ft x 3ft) by bolting two sections together. This will make them easily transportable and easy for the winners to take them home. We still have some decisions to make regarding the overall finish of the woodlands possibly the most costly part of this build considering the number of trees we will need.

I will use the blog to document the build throughout the course of this project so stay tuned for more work in progress updates.

As some of you may be aware I am a senior partner in a terrain company and as such have negotiated to cover the terrain build, paying any relevant costs as necessary. I have done this so we can raise as much as possible for the two charities and not have to cover large expenses. Don't let this stop you from donating to our fund though (see the donate button on the right) as it means much more will go directly to the charities. Please take a moment to click the link above and visit the site to see examples of the quality of work that can be expected.I am also pleased to announce that all the miniatures for this project are being given freely by Andrew at AW Miniatures for this project. A most generous gift indeed . So please take a moment to visit his site and check out his French Indian wars Ranges for yourselves.

Andrew will also be sculpting more miniatures to complement his existing ranges and specifically for us to complete the project as well.

Finally I would like to Thank each and everyone of you who have kindly donated to this project already, we are all really pleased at the level of generosity and offers of help we have received since we started this venture.

Thursday, 30 May 2013

Another ugly bugger that no matter of plastic surgery could put right.

I was asked by James and Andy to get involved and like Andy it took me seconds to say yes.
What a great idea for a couple of great causes.
Being a great fan of the "Muskets & Tomahawks" rule set, I thought what a great way to showcase the rules and the periods it covers.
I was never really interested in the "French Indian War", the later "American War of Independence" was always my preferred period from the colonies at this time.
The "Seven Years War" has always been a favorite period of mine and a period I game often, it has surprised myself that I really ignored the "FIW" for so long.
I have to thank the "M&T" rule set for enlightening me onto this period in our history (& also great that a lot of my AWI stuff can be used in the games).
I have played a lot of "M&T" now and really love it.
Anybody looking for a great set of skirmish rules, cannot go wrong with these.
It has been some years since I was last involved with a demo game a "Triples", and I am looking forward to this and hopefully raising loads of cash for the two charities we have chosen.
I will be involved with the painting and the gaming, and whatever James wants me to get involved in.
I may also post some random stuff on here about getting your hands in your pockets, haha. or getting involved in the project.
The response so far has been fantastic and really does show the world that Wargamers and bloggers are a great bunch of people.
It's great to see the support we have already from the industry, Warbases, AW Miniatures, Terra Firma Studio's and now, Flags of War.
A super response and massive thankyou for your help with this.
I myself consider it a honour to be here and involved with this.

Wednesday, 29 May 2013

Looking
into the British Commander in this battle has been a real eye opener, when he
commanded at La Belle Famille Eyre was well in to his 60 year military service.
In a time when most people never left their own county he travelled the world with
the army. When he finished his service he returned to his home county of
Limerick, where he became the first Lord Clarina.

"Nor yet
blessed city is that worth no more,

Which first in
fighting fields thy sons did claim,

Lo! Coote's
strong arm controls the Indian shore,

And Niagara roam
thy Massy's name. "

(An Address to Limerick)

The above was written in the
1760s by the Limerick poet Daniiel Hayes and refers to our Eyre Massy.

This and the information found
below have been taken from The Old Limerick Journal written by Matthew Potter.

Eyre Massy
purchased a commission in the army in 1739, and thus began a military career
that lasted for over sixty years. he joined the 27th Foot, known as the Enniskillings,
and became a Lieutenant in the Grenadiers. Massy had no sooner received his commission
than he found himself on active service in war time. The year 1739 saw the
outbreak of war between Britain and Spain. This conflict was known as the War
of Jenkins Ear. It soon merged into a major war involving most of the European powers.
It was but one of a series of wars which had begun in 1689, and were to continue
until 1815. This second "Hundred Years War" was essentially a struggle
for world domination between Britain and France, but various conflicts between
the powers of continental Europe were also bound up in it. The stakes were very
high - at issue was the future of North America, India and other parts of the world
where the two great powers and their allies were opposed. The titanic struggle
ended in 1815 and resulted in vast areas of the globe coming under the sway of
the Anglo-Saxon powers.

Massy saw
action in two of the most important of these struggles, the War of the Austrian
Succession (1740-48) and the Seven Years War (1756-63). These were in the
nature of world wars, with fighting in North America, the West Indies and
India, as well as in Europe. In 1739, the British Government intended to attack
and conquer large parts of the Spanish- American Empire. To this end, a fleet commanded
by Admiral Edward Vernon set out for the Caribbean. In November 1739, Vernon
and his forces captured the important city of Portobello in Panama. The 27th
Foot, including Massy, played an important role in this battle, which was regarded
as a great victory for the British forces. Massy and the other survivors returned
to Britain in December 1740. In 1745-6, he served with his regiment in Scotland.
Prince Charles Edward Stuart, better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, had raised
the Jacobites in rebellion, and the British Government sent a strong army to
Scotland to crush the threat. This force was commanded by William, Duke of
Cumberland, a son of George 11. Cumberland's army decisively defeated the
Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, and the rebellion collapsed. Massy
was wounded in the battle. His bravery attracted the attention of the Duke, who
became his patron. In 1747, Cumberland promoted Massy to the rank of Captain- Lieutenant
and it was due to the Duke's influence that he became Captain in 1751 and Major
in 1755.

In
1756, the Seven Years War broke out. The most important theatre of war in the
early stages of this conflict was North America, and Massy was sent there in 1757
as a Major in the 46th Foot. In 1758, he became Lieutenant-Colonel of this regiment.
The following year was the decisive one in the North American campaign. The
British invaded New France (Canada), the main French colony in North America,
in force. An army commanded by General Wolfe captured Quebec, the largest city
in Canada. A second force, commanded by Major- General Jeffrey Amherst, was
sent to capture Fort Niagara, near the famous Niagara Falls. This move was
intended to cut off Canada from the France's other great American colony,
Louisiana. Massy was in command of the 46th Regiment, which formed part of
Amherst's army.

His
role in the decisive battle of La Belle Famille, fought near Fort Niagara on 24th
July 1759, is a matter of some conjecture. His own account of this crucial episode
in his career is set forth in the far from modest "Memorial of his
Services", which is a very subjective account of his military career. He
claims that he commanded the British forces and their allies in this battle and
masterminded the victory against the French. The British army consisted of a
force of 500 men from the 46th Regiment plus some Indians. The French army was
much larger, consisting of 1,800 French and French-Canadians, and 500 Indians.
The battle was hard fought, but the British emerged victorious, capturing all
of the French officers except one, who managed to make good his escape. Fort
Niagara surrendered soon after, and the whole of the Upper Ohio fell into
British hands.

Massy
claimed that this was the first engagement since the outbreak of the war in
which the Indians were defeated. However, the standard accounts of the battle
do not credit Massy with the victory. The actual commander of the army and architect
of its success was another Irishman, Sir William Johnson. Shortly after the
fall of Fort Niagara, Massy requested a transfer back to his old regiment, the
27th Foot. During the campaign of 1760, he commanded the grenadiers. His
superior , General Amherst, led the British forces out of Oswego, New York, and
sailed down the St Lawrence River to capture Montreal.

Blocking
the way was the French stronghold of Fort Levis (now Chimney Island, New York).
There the Battle of the Thousand Islands was fought, resulting in another
British victory. Massy took part in this last battle fought by the French in defence
of New France.

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

I know some of you have already contacted James about helping out and he has passed on the emails to me.

I am going to be coordinating the painting requirements for the project.

Therefore if you would like to help us paint up the troops please email me directly.
Lokis - Great - Hall (remove the spaces between the dashes) at hotmail dot co dot uk.

We can accommodate those that wish to paint a single figure to a full unit 12 figures. If you are worried your painting standard is not up to the job, we can guide you through with helps and tips. We can provide painting guides for the units. Skype link up can be arranged and 1 to 1 painting sessions if needed. If you only want to block the base colours this is acceptable and we can finish them off.

All basing will be carried out by me to maintain a uniformity and to match the terrain we will be making. So you don't have to worry about that.

Once I have the volunteers for this side of the project I will dispatch the figures and email you all with a time scale for their return. Our only request as this is a charity project is that you pay for the return postage costs of the figures, The postage costs for sending the figures is being covered by one of our sponsors.

Good morning Bloggers,
It has been just a little over a week since this blog went live and an idea became a plan. First I want to say a big thank you to all who have taken time to link their own blogs to this one and those who have given shout outs on their own blogs. I think if I ever doubted this was an idea you would get behind this week has blown that away. I have had people take the time to donate (see top right) and others who have had big things going on in real life but still taken time out to comment /share and interact with me and this blog.
It is not just bloggers that have been emailing me yesterday I heard from Iain from Flags Of War I hope he does not mind me sharing this email.
""Hey guys,

Just seen the details of this and think it's a great idea. I know it's a
skirmish but if you need any flags for your Units just let me know and
they are yours. I do all the flags for the FIW.

Iain""

I can say right now that we will be making sure all our Regular troops will be carring unit standards. I plan to do a few posts over the year giving a little history about the units involved in this battle and hopefully (if I can find it) information about the Commanders involved.

We are already getting a long list of Bloggers/gamers lining up to offer painting skills but we still want as many to get involved as possible. If you might be holding back because you do not feel you can paint whole units please be assured we have several individuals who will need painting. If you worry that your painting is not good enough do not hold back I am more that happy to help anyone with advice and tips and I can even offer 1-on-1 painting sessions if you do not live to far away or can get to a local wargames show. TBH I would even be happy to use the internet (Skype etc) to offer help and advice. If you still feel underskilled another option is to paint the block colors on the figures and send them back where we will finish them off for you. I guess I am trying to say do not hold back if you want to help we will find some thing for you to do.

Once again Thank you one and all for taking up this idea and runing with it.
Peace James

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

No matter what I do short of plastic surgery I will be the same ugly bugger!

When James asked me via Google + what I thought of his mad idea to do a Blogger charity event at Triples, It took me about thirty seconds to say lets turn the idea into a reality. After all the idea of giving something back to society is a good one. In other words I was in like a rat up a drain pipe. Muskets and Tomahawks is a good game and should allow for us to put on a great demonstration at Triples 2014.

So what do I bring to the project, well in truth not to much really although I have the ability to organise and plan a large event. I can make terrain which could be taken as a useful skill to have. Oh and I talk a lot, in fact probably too much, although sometimes that is a distinct benefit as I was able to get some trade support for the project.

As James has said the charity Help For Heroes is a no brainer to put on the list. As wargames are mainly a male dominated environment (apologies to Tamsin and Anne) his idea of the male cancer charity Men Matter is an excellent choice.

I will be organising the distribution of the figures required for painting, and of course ensuring their safe return for basing. I will be planning and constructing the tables for the entire project, the idea will be to construct them in a manner that they can be easily transported and raffled off to raise money for the charities at the end.

Finally I would like to ask you all to help us raise as much money as you can spare and follow the journey through the year.

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

The Ideas

My original Idea I shared on my blog but as you can see we have moved on
from it being an idea to it being an event I am taking this time to let you
know about the battle and my reason for the charities chosen. Help for Hero’s
is I feel a no brainer for any wargamer to support and is a well know charity,
Men Matter is less well known, we all see and hear about lots of charities for
help and research into breast and other mainly female cancers but us men tend to
keep our heads down and not talk about male cancers. This is wrong we should
all be talking about these and performing any self checks we can, I know many
of you will have been affected by cancer in your family or even yourself. I am
no exception I have a family member in treatment now for cancer and as my
family has a history of prostrate troubles (including cancer) my 40th
birthday present to myself will be a trip to the Dr to have my prostrate check.
So I have reason to support both these charities and hope this year will do
just that, as well as giving rise to friendships and contacts we can all keep
for life. So if you want to jump on board do so, or if you just want to follow
us and comment do so please, this is going to be a 12 months to remember.

The Battle.

All the
below information is taken direct from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_La_Belle-Famille

Captain Le Marchand de Lignery was organizing the French
expedition against Fort Pitt from Fort Machault when Pouchot's appeal for help
arrived on July 12. On that day, Lignery was trying to convince nearly 1,000
Indians to join in the planned attack against Fort Pitt. Johnson had sent
messages to Fort Pitt, urging Indians there to join the British in attacking
the French forts, and many Indians were unsure about which side to take.
Lignery was able to rally support; when combined with forces under Charles
Phillip Aubrey, a large force left Fort Machault for Niagara. Messengers he
sent to Pouchot also leaked news of their advance to the besieging British, who
prepared an ambush.

Before the action, the British native allies told their
French counterparts that they intended to remain neutral in the upcoming clash.
They wished that the French native allies would do likewise. This induced many
of the French-allied Indians to desert.[2]

Lignery and Aubrey, in spite of their knowledge of Indian
ways, apparently advanced without taking normal precautions against ambush, and
marched right into a prepared trap.

Lieutenant Colonel Massey of the 46th Foot
commanded 464 British regulars to defend the trail running north from Niagara
Falls to Fort Niagara. On the right flank covering the portage
trail, Massey deployed about 130 men of the 46th in the La Belle Famille
clearing. Thrown forward from the right flank, just above the river gorge, were
the grenadiers of the 46th and a small detachment of the 44th Foot.
To the left of the 46th, the converged light companies of the 44th, 46th, and
4th battalion of the 60th Foot took position. On the extreme left stood a
detachment from the 44th and New York Regiment. Understanding that his enemies
included a significant number of regulars, Massey ordered the redcoats to lie
down and fix bayonets.[3]

As the French came out of the woods into the open, they
immediately opened fire and began to deploy from column into line formation.
Waiting until the French were within very close range, the British commander
gave his troops the command to rise and fire. The 46th fired seven volleys,
then advanced, firing at will. Massey later estimated that his men each fired
about 16 rounds in the action. Meanwhile, the grenadier company's fire caught
the French left flank in enfilade. When the French flinched before the deadly
fire, the British attacked with the bayonet. French morale collapsed and the
British-allied Iroquois rushed the survivors.[4]

The French began a panicked retreat, in which the British
gave chase, according to one report, for as much as 5 miles (8.0 km). French
casualties were significant, including Lignery, who sustained a mortal wound.
Massey was wounded.

I took the rough troop
numbers and used a 1:10 ratio to create a couple playable M&T forces shown
below.

On the face of it this
may seem an odd battle to pick for our game but I was looking for a level of
conflict that would while still be a challenge for us to get together and
complete was not going to cause anyone to bust a gut trying. I looked at many
of the major battles but these involved thousands on both sides and some of the
smaller actions would have let us with only a dozen figures per side.

I am blown away with the
response we already have from our community and know this is going to be a
great fun year which will culminate in a great fun weekend of wargames and
meeting’s

To give you a very rough
idea of the time scale we are working too I would plan for all painting to be
completed and returned to one place by the end of winter which will give us the
last few months to get them based and ready for gaming.I have sent the list of figures needed off to
Loki who will be creating a post all about our painting needs. I just wanted to
put up a bit of back ground about the battle.

Monday, 20 May 2013

Welcome to the new Blogger's for Charity blog please take a moment to join us as a follower to track our venture.

The idea of this blog is too bring together wargamers and figure painters from around the world to collaborate on a giant charity project. The initial project will be run and organised by the four founders a brief description of these rogues is below.

The initial idea of running something for charity came from James of Exiles wargames painter, who wanted to see if anyone else would be interested in assisting him in a charity event at Triples 2014, and is heading up the clerical side of the project.

Andrew of Loki's Great Hall can be occasionally found helping warbases and has some contacts in the industry and will hopefully assisting in the terrain and making of the tables.

Kevin of Kevs wargames Cabin is a full time painter and best mate of Andrew, is on board to assist in the running and organising.

The whole venture will be run on a not for profit basis. We are aiming to raise as much money as possible over the coming year and have set up a donations account for this purpose which you can find in the top right side bar of this very blog. Please help us raise as much as possible for our chosen two charities this year, they are Men Matter and Help for Heroes, both worthy charities I am sure you will agree. We will of course be asking the wider community to help us achieve many targets over the coming months and if you can help us in any way please do step forward we will gratefully accept any help.

Anyone wishing to help can proudly display the Bloggers for charity logo on their own blogs, we only ask that you link it back to this site please.

We will be running a rather large skirmish game using Muskets and Tomahawks rules refighting the battle of La Belle Famille as a culmination of the event and raffling all the figures to raise funds for the charities mentioned.

Please take a moment to visit our generous sponsors who's links are below and will permanently appear in the right sidebar.

Thanks to the Generosity of Andrew Wilson at AW miniatures who has agreed to sponsor the project by supplying the miniatures we just have some final costs to be agreed. He will also sculpt new figures for the items we require that he does not currently have in his ranges. Again we just await the final details on this side of the support.

Martin & Diane at Warbases will be supplying all the figure bases for us, and some other ancillary items as required.

The next post will outline our full aims and hopefully we should have more details on the project.